Fire up your Morsemaking muscles and jump into the North American QSO Party's CW edition this Saturday. It's a friendly name-and-state exchange, you can work everybody on all bands, and the power limit is 100 watts. While you're at it, pick up some DX, too, as the Worked All Europe CW contest will be going on at the same time during the following weekend.

BULLETINS

There are no bulletins in this issue.

BUSTED QSOS

The previous issue's photo of the W1L team in their tent was by N6TV and not EY8MM.

Here's a cross-mode contact made during the IARU HF Championship that was definitely out of the ordinary - right in the middle of the contest while operating as N3BUO, Gary WA5FWC copied a CW SOS call in the SSB band on his CQ frequency and dropped the contest to render help! "During the Saturday evening of the IARU I received an SOS in CW in Spanish about a ship in distress. The message said they were in danger of ditching in a raft as the ship was losing power and the air time was short. I received what I perceived to be coordinates off the Argentine coast about 565 miles. I copied the info and a Mexican station translated and relayed this information to the Maritime Mobile net which then contacted the Argentine Coast Guard and Argentine authorities rescued the passengers." Strong work! (Thanks, Dave N3BUO and Gary WA5FWC)

It's hard to believe that this nice-looking shack was under water three years ago! This is the new HSØAC station after a lot of hard work by the Bangkok hams. Listen for them in the contests coming up! (Photo by E21EIC)

A new set of Thai Amateur Radio regulations went into effect on July 23rd, granting Thai hams several new sets of frequency privileges, including a secondary allocation on 6 meters and expansion of 160 and 80 meter operation to 1.800 - 2.000 MHz and 3.500 - 3.600 MHz. Advanced licensees will be able to use up to 1000 watts and more club and contest call signs will be available, such as E2X. The Morse receiving test is retained, as well. (Thanks, Champ E21EIC and Sam SM3DYU)

DX Engineering has added some new product lines. Along with the full set of K4UEE DXpedition videos covering 2002-2012 and several DXpeditions of the year, the full line of Coaxial Dynamics wattmeters and associated equipment is also available. DX Engineering is also the exclusive dealer for the 2X Arrays TX38 triband Yagi, used for all of the WRTC2014 stations.

This little guy was helping the HSØAC ground crew as they reinstalled their new antenna farm. It's never too early to get a good start in ham radio! (Photo by E21EIC)

Stu K6TU writes, "I am planning to release a new version of the Super Check Partial (SCP) database files in early August 2014. I am requesting your logs for input to the database files. To be included in this release, email Cabrillo-formatted logs to Stu before August 8th. He can accept logs at any time, so why not make that part of your post-contest log-handling process? Whatever you send the contest sponsors, just cc: the SCP manager.

N2NC and team have added another year - 1974 - to the CQ WW online score database. In addition, two new plaques have been added: In honor of the recent passing of IT9ZGY, the IB9T/IR9Y team has sponsored the World Combined SSB/CW 160M Score plaque. The CW Single Operator All Bands Oceania plaque is a memorial to KH2D, sponsored by Ken Hoppe KH7R and Mani Albrecht KH2FI. (Thanks, CQ WW DX Contest Director, Randy K5ZD)

The Radio Club of America (RCA) has announced its 2014 award winners. Among the list are several hams (RCA is not just an amateur club) you might recognize - congratulations to all!

Victoria SV2KBS recommends the free CW practice program called CW Freak which has been upgraded to CW Freak.NET by Satoshi JIØVWL. She says that it's very similar to rufzXP with several competition lists and rankings plus three different modes of operation - two for practice and one for competitive copying. It requires the NET 2.0 system on your Windows PC and is compatible with Vista through Windows 8.1 operating systems.

Having a great time at the recent Pacific NW DX Convention held in Vancouver, BC by the Orca DX and Contest Club are some calls in your log (L-R) Jim KI7Y, Tree N6TR, and Bob W7YAQ. (Photo by N7WA)

How was cable TV really invented? Well, it was an Astoria, Oregon ham radio operator and broadcast station owner named Ed Parsons W7FKZ trying to receive KRSC-TV (now KING) on channel 5 from Seattle in 1948! In this article that tells a story to which we can all relate, Ed finally found a "hot spot" on a building near his apartment, started watching television from Seattle, and the rest, as they say, is history. (Thanks, Diane NH6HE)

Here are some more interesting electronic robotic construction kits for young experimenters. The Tinkerbots website describes modules like the "twister, pivot, motor, and grabber." What hands-on youngster could resist? The resulting assembly is controlled with either an Android or iOS app. The Modular Robotics company produces a similar line of Cubelets and the MOSS robot construction system to get your designs rolling. Or grabbing, or twisting, or...

There have been lots of stories about the "near hit" of a substantial coronal mass ejection (CME) a couple of years ago that, depending on the source, had it impacted the Earth squarely would have either just done a lot of damage or ended life as we know it, take your pick. The commentary on the Slashdot website usually takes news in technical directions rarely encountered on the regular outlets and this story was treated no differently - enjoy!

The August issue of Sky and Telescope contains a thought-provoking article, "Toddlers at the Telescope" about giving young kids a chance to look at celestial sights. It points out that without experience, the kids really don't know what to expect or how to use the instruments. The article's advice could help us make a child's first exposure to radio something more enjoyable and interesting to them by working within their abilities. After all, they don't know what a radio is or what a signal is - it's quite easy to confuse and overload them as we deliver rapid-fire advice and jargon. The same goes for introducing most non-hams to our world. Too often, we give them the "fire-hose treatment" instead of a slower, simpler introduction they can assimilate and understand at their own pace.

Web Site of the Week - Rich KL7RA came up with a new way to advertise ham radio in a forum you'd never expect - sponsoring a girls softball team! As you can see from this news item the girls not only took the top trophy but were undefeated in the tournament! Grandfather of team members Ayn-Margaret and Grace Schaekel, Rich says, "There is nothing like hearing a team of nine-year-old girls yelling your call sign before every game!" Congratulations to the North Pole Contest Group team - maybe your club could do something equally creative?

WORD TO THE WISE

Holer - refers to the number of tubes in a power amplifier. For example, an AL-811 with three 811 tubes is a "three-holer" while the 4-tube AL-811H is a "four-holer". Depending on what tube is installed in the "holes" (sockets) an amplifier can be considered pretty much legit or one that "encourages bad behavior." To paraphrase the old rhyme: A one-hole Alpha is the least, a two-hole Alpha is a beast, and the urge would over-power ya if you had a three-hole Alpha!

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Bob Heil K9EID is known by hams for the Ham Nation online video series and his microphones and headsets but he has an amazing history in the professional music field, too! This interview with Bob will help round out your knowledge about this audio pioneer.

Here are three WRTC photographers on the other side of the lens (L-R) Bob N6TV, Nodir EY8MM, and Jim K1IR. Thanks for the great photos, guys! (Photo from K1IR)

W3IZ and IK2QEI do a great job in this video about WRTC2014 made by a local public access television network to explain the magic of the competition and ham radio in general. (Thanks, WRTC2014 Vice President, Randy K5ZD)

Nodir EY8MM is a terrific photographer and his online albums of photos are well worth browsing, such as this set from the recent WRTC2014. Victor VA2WA has also posted photos from his WRTC2014 experience, including his duties as a referee for the N1C team's operation. He also documented his trip to W1AW and ARRL HQ the following week for the League's Centennial celebration. Thanks to all of the photographers who have shared their photos with all of us around the world!

RESULTS AND RECORDS

Following the contest come the statistics and maps, right? WRTC2014 is no different and the organizers have assembled several web pages to put the finishing touches on this extraordinary event. Thank you and "well done" to the WRTC2014 organizing committee and hundreds of volunteers!

An interactive map of each team's location. Click on any icon to view details about the site team, operating team, and score.

A table of radios and software used by the WRTC2014 teams (it's never too early to start that holiday gift list!)

Logs submitted by the WRTC2014 teams will be made public after the log submission deadline for the IARU HF Championship Contest has passed at 1200 UTC Tuesday, August 12, 2014. (Thanks, WRTC2014 Vice President, Randy K5ZD and Director, Andy N2NT)

Results for the School Club Roundup are now available on the ARRL's Contest Results Articles web page for 2014. The article by N2RQ includes the full tables of scores as compiled by WA7BNM's new SCR web page - thanks, Lew and Bruce! It's never too early to start thinking about getting students ready for the October and February events.

Trust me, there's a radio in here and if that's a rubber chicken, it has to be Jeff WK6I. This is what an SO6V operation looks like! Jeff was operating from W7RN in the recent NAQP RTTY contest. (Photo by K5RC)

Results of the 2014 UBA Contest CW for Belgian and DX stations have been published. Certificates can also be downloaded. (Thanks, Marc ON7SS/OO9O)

All Raw Scores (Claimed Scores) for the 2014 CQMM DX Contest have been published. Scores were calculated before any log checking process. If you find errors, please contact the contest committee as soon as possible. Final results will be published on August 20. (Thanks, Luc PY8AZT)

The 2014 Wisconsin QSO Party results are now available. "All counties were active and we had a Clean Sweep by W9EAU - first ever! And we'll do it again on March 15, 2015." (Thanks, WIQP Team Member, Tom K9BTQ)

OPERATING TIP

Mark ZL3AB contributed an analysis of operating time in the 2013 CQ WW CW and SSB Contests. "I was wondering what the average operating times were for Single Operator All Band and Single Operator All Band Assisted stations.

Single Op Single Op(A) Overall

CW 17.4 18.1 17.8

SSB 14.7 13.8 14.2

Also 73% of operators operated for less than 24 hours in the CW contest with 79% doing so in the SSB contest. Interestingly there seemed to be no material difference in time operated in each category between single ops and single ops assisted in both contests. It also seems there were a lot more very casual operators in the SSB contest. It is pretty obvious that without the casual operators the hard core would get bored pretty quickly!" The tip? Keep your butt in the chair!

TECHNICAL TOPICS AND INFORMATION

After WRTC2014 there was a lot of discussion comparing the site terrain to the scores. One of the site managers, Rich K1CC, contributes some very important considerations when doing terrain and HFTA (HF Terrain Analysis) modeling and analyzing RBN (Reverse Beacon Net) data:

1) Any dB data (including HFTA Figure of Merit) must be averaged using a geometric mean, not an arithmetic mean.

2) Data across Skimmers cannot be averaged as they all have different SDR sensitivities and different antenna gains. In other words, their "S-meters" do not have the same calibrations and they use different antennas.

3) Terrain data must be of sufficient fidelity to capture diffraction effects in HFTA. Try turning the diffraction on and off in HFTA any you will see the importance of diffraction on uneven ground (e.g. New England)

4) There are various sources of terrain data and they are not all the same. The accuracy of the terrain data varies even within the US. The simplest and quickest way to assess the accuracy and fidelity of terrain data is to run some profiles and compare them against known landmarks (distance to edges of lakes, across known flat ground such as an airport runways, etc.). The USGS maps within the US are a good sources of such reference points. Man-made features such as fill for roads can distort the terrain data significantly. Field checks against terrain model results should always be made to check for these errors.

5) The HFTA model can sometimes be very sensitive to terrain data across different databases (NED, DEM, etc.). Running sensitivity tests with small perturbations in antenna location, terrain files and azimuth can sometimes show large variability in result. It is only a model!

6) The coordinates used for WRTC antenna locations were given using the WGS-84 datum. There can be significant differences in antenna placement across different coordinate systems, as our beam teams discovered (antennas in the middle of a street, etc.)

6) N6BV has available newer arrival angle distributions than those that are published, be sure to use the latest ones.

7) Intuition about the effects of terrain on antenna response does not seem to work very well. The effect of terrain on a 40 ft high antenna is much different than it is on a 100 ft antenna. Local terrain features within the reflection zone can sometimes result in very large gain difference over a narrow range of radiation angles. HFTA has been used many times very successfully by station designers but it is not a rigorously validated model.

Ignoring any of the above can lead one to very erroneous conclusions in site analysis and in comparing sites against each other. Proceed with caution.

If you have a TDR or pulse generator and a scope you can make some fairly quick length and impedance maeasurements of transmission lines as shown in this EDN online article.

The June 2014 issue of Nuts and Volts includes a useful product for hams who want to build their own test equipment. "A 150 MHz RF Signal Generator for Your Test Bench" by Robert Reed. It's based on the venerable MC1648 ECL-family LC oscillator and includes the ability for AM and FM. The design avoids the complexities of building the attenuator by recommending the builder use an external switched attenuator, of which there are many on the surplus market. The author also published the article "180 MHz Sweep Generator" in the December 2013 issue. Also check out the author's follow-up comments in the July 2014 issue.

At the hamfest you've just spotted a clean rotator in the HAM-M series at a good price - but which one is it? A HAM-M, -II, -III, or -IV? The rotator series can be identified by the numbers stamped into the base plate. They will typically give the series, serial number, and month/year of manufacture. (Thanks, Joe W4TV)

Speaking of rotators, perhaps this tip will help a reader avoid having to learn an important repair lesson the hard way: "Don't forget the MOST important piece of rebuild equipment, a shallow cardboard box to catch the ball bearings that will fall out when you crack apart the two halves of the housing." And they do fall out and roll off everywhere unless you are prepared! (Thanks, Mike NF4L)

In case you were wondering how or are teaching someone how to solder and they were wondering, here is an explanation for what jobs the different types of soldering iron tips are intended.

Jim W6RMK is a big fan of the Paladin adjustable coax stripper. "It comes with a tiny Allen hex wrench to adjust the height of the blades, and you can move them to various positions along the cut. Once you get it dialed in for YOUR coax and YOUR connectors, it's the work of 10 seconds to make a perfect strip. Paladin (and others) make fixed strippers too, but you need to choose wisely. Compare the cut lengths and depths for the stripper against the assembly diagram for your connector and coax. Paladin is part of Greenlee (the folks who have made chassis punches for probably a century)"

Some ham radio software does not run well under the default installation folder for Win 8.x of Program Files (x86). Running Windows 8.1 Update, Dennis NE6I relates some success in following instructions "to create a separate Program Files folder and install my ham software there." Ron WM9Q concurs, "I typically install software of this type in a directory directly under the "C:" root directory. If a particular program still gives me issues, I set the compatibility mode for windows 7 and run it as an administrator. That typically fixes all ills."

Technical Web Site of the Week - Not only is the vacuum tube still around, the basic technology may be making a comeback in the digital world as this story from the IEEE Spectrum explains.

CONVERSATION

A Tool for Opening Doors

You may have seen some coverage of the European Radiosport Team Championship (ERTC), part of a Europe-wide youth gathering known as Youngsters On The Air (YOTA) which is held every year in different European Union countries under EU and International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) sponsorship. It brings youth together in the spirit of cultural exchange and learning from one another in all segments of Amateur Radio, science and electronics.

Here are the ERTC-YOTA attendees holding flags representing their home countries. Fifteen European countries were represented. (Photo by OH2BH)

This year fifteen EU countries were represented. ERTC also brought young people together globally over the Internet, using Amateur Radio simulation software on a shared platform (Hamsphere) - a completely natural hangout for them. The winners (with ages in parentheses) were:

North America: ARRL Centennial, W1ØØAW activated by Martti OH2BH as part of the ARRL Centennial celebrations in Hartford, Connecticut

ERTC was conducted much like a regular ham radio contest. There were two operating periods of three hours each, the teams used special ham radio-style call signs, and they called CQ and tuned for multipliers. Hamsphere is fairly realistic in that there is QRM and QRN and the bands aren't always open. You can also turn up the mic gain until you are over-modulating - then Hamsphere disables you. Gee, could we get them to take over 20 meters some time? No, of course it's not a real ham radio contest, but there seems to be some concern that simulated ham radio will replace or substitute for actual ham radio. I understand the concern but I'm not too worried - I'm actually encouraged and here's why.

We should evaluate Hamsphere for what it is - a simulation of ham radio. No one is claiming it to be actual ham radio. Simulators are very useful as a way of demonstrating some of the concepts of ham radio to people unfamiliar with what radio is which includes most of the population. Sure, it would be great to introduce people to ham radio at a full-size station but online simulators can be accessed anywhere, anytime and in a medium that is familiar to the target audience. That's a recipe for success, in my opinion. Simulation opens a door - it does not claim to be the entire experience.

This is the winning ERTC team from the Czech Republic in action, showing all the intensity typical of ham radio contesting! (Photo by OH2BH)

Simulators are widely used by pilots, doctors, military personnel, technicians etc to get some experience with controls and operational details. They do not confuse simulation with reality and I don't think any of the Hamsphere users do either. Simulators provide excellent training opportunities that we can use during licensing classes and when showing new licensees how the various terms and techniques relate to on-the-air operating. Using simulators, public service training can also be conducted in a controlled environment before live on-the-air drills.

Beginning operators who participated in ERTC got some experience with using phonetics, copying through noise and interference, confirming call signs, finding a frequency, logging, and so on. They will be more prepared when they get the opportunity to participate in ham radio "for real" and that is our job - to help them take the next step, not disrespect them because they did not come to ham radio and experience it exactly as we did.

Here's another example of how to use a ham radio simulation like Hamsphere to address a situation we've all encountered: We have an opportunity to introduce Amateur Radio in conversation, often spontaneously, and rarely does this happen when we have radio equipment at hand. We can now pull out our smartphone, tablet, or laptop and demonstrate the basic idea. Coupled with online contact mapping websites like dxmaps.com or Viewprop we can now show the basic idea of ham radio both to the eye and to the ear. This is much more likely to be of interest to the other person than verbal descriptions. Online "play spaces" are understood and accepted by more people every day - of all ages. We can use this tool to open the door to our real-time, far more powerful ham radio.

Not just a contest, YOTA also featured cultural exchanges and electronics training and demonstrations in which these attendees are engaged. (Photo by OH2BH)

Certainly, the best possible door to ham radio is a personal mentoring relationship with an experienced, licensed ham - no one is trying to diminish that. Those, unfortunately, are far less common than they were when we got into ham radio. Further, people under thirty have a much different view of communication technology. We have to recognize that and work with it, not insist on imposing our history on the potential recruits. Right now much of our target audience doesn't even know ham radio exists, so any door we can open should be opened. Sure, not all of them will come on through but given that many wouldn't try ham radio at all without an introduction they understand, this can only be a net positive for Amateur Radio in the long run.

Once given a taste of what radio communication "feels like," simulator users are more likely to at least take an interest in learning about ham radio. Licensed users of the simulator can fill that need by acting as ambassadors of Amateur Radio. I think of simulators as filling a role similar to short-wave listening or even Citizens Band "back in the day." Those were the gateways to Amateur Radio for many hams.

I know that simulators are uncomfortable for many of us who have long experience with ham radio. It's not so much that we are "old-fashioned" as that we have taken a different path to and through ham radio. There are many paths to the doors of ham radio - simulation is one of them. We need to use any tool available to open as many doors as possible. It's what we do then to help new licensees after they come through one of those doors that counts.

73, Ward NØAX

CONTESTS

30 July through 12 August

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